Prior art relating to the design of doors and surrounding casing structure includes types of door stops as well as various devices and attachments directed to preventing injury to a person who may catch a hand or finger in the door when it is closed.
Examples of such art are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,040,142, 2,686,942, 1,829,312, 2,065,685, 1,258,856, 2,846,713 and 3,800,360. Each of these patents is directed to some type of apparatus which is attached to the door structure as needed at a time after the door is installed in use. Certain of these devices are directed to means for preventing the fingers or hands being caught in the hinged connection between the door and adjacent structure. However, most of these devices are not designed for and do not prevent the fingers getting into the hinged area. Instead, they are primarily directed to preventing the door closing upon the fingers. The patent to Ippolito, U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,142, discloses a bellows-type apparatus installed such that when the door is opened a folding panel extends across the grooved opening formed opposite the hinges such that a hand or fingers cannot be placed therein. However, when the door is not fully but only partially opened, the bellows panel as described will not fully extend and a person may still get a hand or fingers caught therein and pinched between the door and casing. This same deficiency exists in other such devices known to the present applicant.
Apparatus directed simply to a door check is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,360 to Knarreborg. The door check described therein also includes a noise silencing bumper in the form of a pendulous device or bumper which is adapted to momentarily lodge between the door and the casing and then, as the door approaches the final closing stage, the bumper automatically tilts away to land in a neutral position and permit the door to close. This patent and others similar are primarily designated to impede or slow down the closing of a door rather than fully prevent the closing.
Other patents, including the above cited U.S. Pat. No. 2,686,942, disclose the positioning of a resilient bumper or guard along the casing or jamb adjacent the free edge of the door to reduce injury to extremities caught therein. However, these devices as disclosed do not overlie an adequate surface area to completely prevent injury. As generally described these guards are installed in an intermediate area of the jamb to engage the door edge when in a closed position. Therefore, it is quite possible to pinch a hand or finger between the door edge and an unpadded area of the jamb.
Examples of finger injury preventive devices for car doors are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,065,685 and 1,829,312; however, they are both considered to be partially or totally ineffective in a substantial number of cases.
The above problems are particularly significant in an environment where young children are present such as in daycare centers and nurseries. In such an environment it is desirable to have doors which are specifically designed to prevent injury to a child should the hands or fingers be caught in either the hinged edge or free edge of the door structure.